Essential Hayek Videos

Knowledge and Prices

One of Hayek's best known ideas and perhaps his most profound insight is the role of prices in conveying information. This topic is explored in more detail in Chapter 2.

Economic Booms and Busts

Hayek is perhaps best known for his work on economic booms and busts, for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974. Hayek points out that a common mistaken conclusion about the larger economy is that economic downturns—recessions—are caused by too little overall demand. A follow-up mistaken conclusion is that the appropriate cure for recessions is a set of government policies that increase demand. Chapter 7 provides more details.

Prices

This video from Learn Liberty shows how prices help coordinate the billions of choices that result in a productive and dynamic economy. Hayek’s insights on how prices provide us with information is explained in Chapter 2.

Rule of Law

According to one of Hayek’s key theories, a critical difference exists between legislation and law. The great bulk of law that governs human interactions was not invented and designed by some great Law Giver. Instead, law emerged without centralized design. Law evolved. Learn more in Chapter 5.

The Challenge of Living in a Modern Society

One of Hayek's more complex theories is the concept of how living in a modern society involves two sets of very different interactions: those that occur among our family and friends, and those that occur in the modern world. Chapter 9 has the details.

Who is F.A. Hayek?

This video provides an overview of Hayek’s life, his accomplishments, and the events that influenced his thinking.